I love the 88!

Ah, the Super 88 Food Connection, very possibly my favorite food place on the planet. Sure, it's smelly and probably wouldn't pass local health board codes. Sure, one time I saw a mouse jump out of a cash register (and I still ate the food!). Sure, the heat nor a/c are seemingly ever on. Sure, the building designer did not consider wind tunnel issues in the positioning of the doors. I could go on and on about why no human being should ever step foot into this place, unless s/he wants to contract some horrific food-borne illness or unknowingly ingest some rodent droppings.

But then you'd be crying hypocrite. Because, damn it, I LOVE THIS PLACE! This shall be the first of many postings about my adventures at the Super 88 Food Connection.

On this particular occasion, D and I ordered from the Dim Sum Chef (cash only!). It offers all the delicious greasy small plates you would expect, but without the chaos of a dim sum place in Chinatown. Here's what we ordered: BBQ pork buns, steamed homemade sausage bun, short ribs in garlic sauce, red bean paste bun, eggplant with black bean sauce, and pan fried sticky rice. Overall, the food was excellent, with some exceptions, and the prices were quite good ($2 to $5 each).













Let's start with the things I enjoyed the most. The BBQ pork buns were steamed to perfection -- pillowy soft, not too doughy or chewy. The pork filling was slightly sweet and simply delicious. The pan fried sticky rice is probably my favorite item on the menu. It's sweet and sticky, with pieces of sausage, teeny shrimps, and some green vegetable scattered throughout. I could eat this alone as a meal and be a very satisfied woman.














Now for the items I wasn't too thrilled about. The short ribs in garlic sauce were horribly greasy, oily, chewy, slippery, and just plain yuck-o. Now, I'm a big fan of short ribs in general, but these must have gone through numerous freeze/thaw cycles to get to the texture they were. The red bean paste buns were good, according to D, but I personally am not a huge fan of red bean, so they go on my thumbs-down list. The eggplant with black bean sauce looked like "brains" as D described, and strangly had a large shrimp stuffed in each piece of eggplant. This was an unexpected addition as the description did not imply that there was shrimp included. The texture of the eggplant was mushy, and the shrimp stuffed inside was just plain bizarre. Otherwise, the steamed homemade sausage buns were unremarkable in flavor and texture. Just mediocre.















So, overall, I recommend the Dim Sum Chef. It's good dim sum for a good price, without having to go into Chinatown. There's a lot on the menu, so I'll have to go on several occasions to develop a more educated opinion about the food.

More on 88 to come... stay tuned.